Vitamin C: vital for skin repair

The repeated message on this site is that anti aging is just as much about what you eat and the lifestyle you lead as the products you buy.

If you want to promote skin radiance and repair you should be eating a diet high in levels of vitamin C or adding a vitamin C supplement to your daily routine.

As any skin care expert will tell you – vitamin C benefits skin – so getting the right level is essential if you’re going to age well, look younger and feel fantastic.

Vitamin C skin benefits are well known – high levels of vitamin C are vital for healthy connective tissue which make it so important in skin care. Put simply – it’s good for your skin and helps prevent and reduce wrinkles.

Getting the right levels of vitamin C for your skin isn’t as easy as it should be – it’s a water soluble vitamin which means it can’t be stored and needs to be topped up every day.

Even if you love fresh leafy vegetables and fruit – you may have trouble getting the levels you need simply from food alone.

A daily supplement is an obvious solution.

But first of all – here’s some facts about vitamin C and skin aging which should convince you that it really does have a claim to be an anti aging wonder vitamin.

If you’re not getting enough vitamin C you may be more susceptible to colds and minor ailments. Some people find that small wounds take longer to heal – another indication that you need more vitamin C.

If you smoke your intake of vitamin C is likely to be severely depeleted and you will definitely need to add more vitamin C as a supplement – or even better for your skin and health – give up smoking.

Vitamin C helps you take up and use iron – so essential for female health. From a skin aging point of view vitamin C works with vitamin E to boost the joint antioxidant effect. So a multivitamin anti aging supplement is often the best thing to go for.

The evidence for the importance of vitamin C has been around since the 1960’s when Linus Pauling showed the benefits of taking large doses of Vitamin C. In more recent studies, Vitamin C has been proven to be an antioxidant that can help to shield the body from free radicals hence its importance as an anti aging vitamin.

Anti aging supplements typically contain vitamin C in the form of ascorbic acid. Vitamin C is better absorbed in the presence of flavonoids so choose a supplement with added flavonoids or make sure you get them in your diet by eating lots of highly colored fruit and vegetables.

Getting vitamin C through your diet is easy. Citrus fruits are usually associated with Vitamin C – but actually strawberries have far more vitamin C than oranges or any other citrus fruit. Blueberries score even higher for vitamin C content but winning outright are acai berries – one of the new anti aging super foods.

To get maximum vitamin C – eat lots of colorful vegetables like red peppers (bell peppers) which are really high in vitamin C and the green leafies – spinach, cabbage, salad crops like watercress and rocket.

Don’t stick to official guidelines for vitamin C – the official recommended daily amount (60mg in the US) is well under the minimum amount of vitamin C that is now known to be beneficial.

Recent studies have shown that much larger doses of vitamin C are not only safe but also have added health benefits. Many anti aging experts recommend 500mg as a daily vitamin C intake and some go much higher – up to 1000mg.

Remember – you can’t take too much vitamin C – as it is water soluble the body will simply eliminate the excess. If you’re worried about upper limits, you may be interested to know that as recently as 2000, the National Academy of Sciences set a Tolerable Upper Intake Level for vitamin C at 2,000 milligrams

So the lesson for skin aging protection and overall healthy aging – up your intake of fresh fruit and vegetables just like your mother probably told you.

But if you want optimimum health as you get older and great younger looking skin add a high level vitamin C supplement to your daily anti aging regimen.

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About Eileen

I am the publisher of Simply Anti Aging and a web author researching and writing on all aspects of anti aging. I'd love you to connect with me onGoogle+

Becca – thanks for your comments. You don’t need to buy any anti aging products to get the skin benefits from vitamin C – just eat lots of fresh citrus fruits, green salads and highly colored vegetables and your skin will look great in no time!

I have heard recently of “megadosing” vitamin c at the first sign of being sick. I am an ex smoker and have just recently (2months ago) quit smoking and want the wrinkles to disappear. Do you think megadosing vitamin c would help me achieve this?

Joe – good question. I use mega doses of vitamin C when I get a cold so in principle you might think it would work. The problem is that you would need to take the vitamin C at high doses over a long period of time. Vitamin C is water soluble and cannot be stored in the body so the excess will just be eliminated naturally every day. Instead of mega vitamin C tablets – try upping your intake of fruit, green leafy veggies and other nutrient rich foods. The long term anti aging effect of is likely to be much greater – not to mention the health benefits as well.

Ben – the more we get to know about vitamin C the more importance it assumes in the fight against skin aging. Of course it’s not just diet and supplementation – vitamin C is one of the few effective anti aging skin care ingredients too! Thanks for commenting